International Workshop

After all, what is Disjunctivism?

The term disjunctivism was originally introduced in philosophy of
perception but has more recently been employed in other areas of philosophy
in particular in philosophy of action. Disjunctive accounts of perception are
highly contested and there is no one understanding of what disjunctivism
amounts to amongst its proponents. Why then should we think a
disjunctivist approach could and should be employed in other areas of
philosophy? The disjunctive approach to perception could seem to be either
trivially true or obviously false. If it merely claims that successful perception
and hallucination are significantly distinct in that we can see an
environmental object only in the former case, it seems trivially true. If it
claims that there is nothing in common between hallucination and successful
perceptions, it seems obviously false. Surely something must be in common.
So what exactly is the claim of the disjunctivist? To answer such questions
we need to become clear on the nature of problems that motivated
disjunctivism in the first place.
The aim of this workshop is to clarify the motivation for disjunctivism
and to identify the most fundamental disputes concerning the position.
Solving this task would help us evaluate the potential of employing a
disjunctive approach to problems in other areas of philosophy, in particular
in philosophy of action. Our basic question is: What could the common
nature between problems in philosophy of perception and problems in
philosophy of action be, such that a transfer of the disjunctive approach to
the area of action could so much as look promising?
Date: 30th July 2015.
Place: Hokkaido University (Conference Hall, the meeting room 5
)
Speakers:
Yudai Suzuki (Sensyu University)
Takuya Niikawa (Chiba University / Hokkaido University)
Rasmus Jensen (The University of Tokyo)

Tentative Program:
14:00 Yudai Suzuki, Some Versions of Disjunctive Accounts of Reasons for
Action
15:00 break
15:10 Takuya Niikawa, What is the point of disjunctivism about perceptual
experience?
16:10 break
16:20 Rasmus Jensen, Do we need a disjunctive account of bodily
movements?
17:20 break
17:30 General Discussion
18:30 Dinner
Contact Person:
Takuya Niikawa (niitaku11@yahoo.co.jp)
You do not have to register for this workshop. It will be our pleasure to
welcome your attendance.